The Hottest Town in America

For nearly 20 years it has been burningand fuming On the surface, at
least, Centralia looks much like dozens of neighboring towns in the
hard-coal country of eastern Pennsylvania. A casual traveler topping
the hill where Route 61 swings up from the south can take in the entire
community at a glance, from St. Ignatius' Catholic church at one end of
town, past the wooden row houses and empty storefronts in the center,
to onion-domed St. Mary's Russian Orthodox church at the other. But a
more careful look reveals something else: acrid-smelling steam coming
from the ground. Centralia sits on a...